walls of the fort, the tri-coloured flag was displayed upon their battlements. On the high grounds which begirt the town, the white tents of the besiegers were, however, discernible, and to the left the Portuguese standard was unfurled. But all was quietness there. The trenches were empty, except of the ordinary guards; the batteries were unprovided with artillery, and some even in ruins; the only mark of hostility, indeed, which was exhibited on either side, came from the town, from which, ever and anon, a single shot was fired, as the allied pickets or sentinels relieved one another, or a group of officers, more curious than wise, exposed themselves unnecessarily to observation. Nevertheless, the whole formed a spectacle in the highest degree interesting and grand, especially to my eyes, to whom such spectacles were new. I was gazing with much earnestness upon the scene before me, when a shot from the castle drew my attention to ourselves, and I found that the enemy were determined not to lose the opportunity which the calm afforded, of doing as much damage as possible to the ships which lay nearest to them. The ball passed over our deck, and fell harmless into the water. The next, however, struck only a few feet from our bow, and the third would have been perhaps still better directed, had not a light breeze fortunately sprung up, and carried us on our own course. By the help of it we contrived in a few minutes to get beyond range; and the enemy, perceiving his balls falling short, soon ceased to waste them. By this time we had approached within a short distance of Passages; and at eight o'clock that wished-for harbour came in view. Perhaps there are few ports in the world more striking in every respect than that of Passages. As you draw near to it, you run along a bold rocky shore, in which no opening appears to exist, nor is it till he has reached the very mouth of the creek, that a stranger is inclined to suspect that a harbour is there. The creek itself cannot be more than fifty yards wide; it runs directly up between overhanging cliffs, and presents altogether the appearance rather of an artificial cut, than of a cut of nature's forming. From the bare faces of these cliffs different kinds of dwarf trees and VOL. XVII. shrubs grow out in rich luxuriance, whilst their summits are crowned with groves of lime and cork trees. Passing through the creek, we arrived in a spacious basin or harbour, on the left of which is built the little town of Passages. Here the scene To complete the picture, the background behind Passages is on all hands beautifully romantic. Hills rise, one above another, to a very considerable height, all of them covered with rich herbage, and the most ample foliage; whilst far away in the distance are seen the tops of those stupendous mountains which form a barrier, and no imaginary barrier, between France and Spain. Though we entered the harbour as early as nine o'clock in the morning, 2 P 288 The Subaltern. Chap. II. and were ready for disembarkation in ten minutes after, that event, so ardently desired and so long deferred, occurred not till a late hour in the evening. Soldiers are, as every person knows, mere machines; they cannot think for themselves or act for themselves in any point of duty; and as no orders had been left here respecting us, no movement could be made, till intelligence had been sent to the General commanding the nearest division, of our arrival. This having been effected, we were forthwith commanded to come on shore; and all the boats in the harbour, as well those belonging to the vessels lying there, as to the native fishermen, were put in requisition to transport us. of every exertion, however, darkness In spite had set in ere the last division reached the land; and hence we were unable to do more than march to a little wooded eminence about a couple of miles from the town, where we bivouacked. This was the first night of my life which I had ever spent in so warlike a fashion; and I perfectly recollect, to this hour, the impression which it made upon me. It was one of the most exquisite delight. The season chanced to be uncommonly mild; not a breath of air was stirring; everything around me smelt sweet and refreshing after a long imprisonment on board of ship; above all, I felt that soldiering was no longer an amusement. Not that there was any peril attending our situation, for we were at least ten miles from the garrison of St Sebastian's, and perhaps twenty from the army of Marshal Soult; but the very circumstance of being called upon to sleep under the canopy of heaven, the wrapping myself up in my cloak, with my sabre hanging on the branch of a tree over my head, and my dog couching down at my heels,-these things alone were sufficient to assure me, that my military career had actually begun. When I looked around me again, I saw arms piled up, and glittering in the light of twenty fires, which were speedily kindled, and cast a bright glare through the overhanging foliage. I saw men, enveloped in their greatcoats, stretched or sitting around these fires in wild groups; I heard their merry chat, their hearty and careless laugh; now and then a song or a catch [March, chaunted by one or two,all these exciting. I leant my head against a things, I recollect, were delightfully tree, and putting my pipe in my mouth, I puffed away in a state of feeling, which any monarch might envy, perienced since. and which, in truth, I have never ex I was When regiments are employed upon actual service, everything like a genethen divide themselves into small coral mess is laid aside. The officers teries of two, three or four, according as they happen to form mutual friendships, or find the arrangement attended with convenience. an intimacy with one of my comrades, fortunate enough to have contracted cherish with the fondest affection, and whose memory I have never ceased to whose good qualities deserve that his memory should be cherished with affection, as long as the power of thinking and reflecting remains by me. He is now at peace, and lies beside two the bottom of a garden. But let that others of his companions in arms, at pass for the present. My friend was during the greater part of the Peninan old campaigner. He had served sular war, and was therefore perfectly acquainted with the course which solkeep their health, and to do their duty diers ought to pursue, if they desire to effectually. At his suggestion I had too brought his; between us we musbrought with me a fowling-piece; he and a spaniel; and we were indiffertered a couple of greyhounds, a pointer ently furnished with fishing rods, and tackle. calculated on being able, at times, to of this night in chatting, sometimes of every one around us was fast asleep. We accordingly trimmed our fire to keep it burning till after daybreak; and, having drank our allowance of grog to the health of our friends and relations at home, we wrapped our cloaks about us, and lay down. In ten minutes I was in the land of forgetfulness. CHAP. III. DAY had fully dawned, when the general stir of the troops around me put an end to my repose. I opened my eyes, and remained for half a minute perfectly at a loss to conceive where I was, so new and so splendid was the prospect which met them. We had bivouacked upon a well-wooded eminence, standing, as it were, in the very centre of an amphitheatre of mountains. Behind us lay the beautiful little Bay of Passages, tranquil and almost motionless, under the influence of a calm morning, though rendered more than usually gay by the ships and boats which covered its surface. In front, and to the right and left, rose, at some little distance off, hill above hill, not rugged and barren, like those among which we afterwards took up our abode, but shaggy, with the richest and most luxuriant groves of plane, birch, and mountainash. Immediately beneath was a small glen, covered partly with the stubble of last year's barley, and still loaded with an abundant crop of unreaped Indian corn; whilst a little to the rear from the spot where I had slept, stood a neat farm-house, having its walls hidden by the spreading branches of vines, and studded with clusters of grapes approaching rapidly to perfection. In a word, it was a scene to which the pencil might perhaps do justice, but which defies all the powers of language adequately to describe. I arose in the same enthusiastic tone of mind with which I had gone to sleep, and assigned myself willingly to the task of erecting huts for our own accommodation and that of the men, no tents having, as yet, been issued out to us. This was speedily effected; large bow-stakes were fitted and driven into the earth, between which were twisted thinner and more leafy branches, by way of walls, and these being covered with twigs so closely wedged as to prove impervious to any passing shower, formed a species of domicile not perhaps very commodi ous, but extremely habitable. Such was our occupation during the hours of light, and at night the corps lay down comfortably sheltered against dews and damps. The following day was spent chiefly in purchasing horses and mules, which were brought in great abundance by the country people to the camp. For these, we of course paid considerably more than their full value; but it was essentially necessary to procure them without delay, as we were in hourly expectation of a move. Nearly a week elapsed, however, and we still remained in the same situation; nor was it till the evening of the 27th that the long-expected route arrived. In the meanwhile, I had not been idle, nor had I confined myself with any strictness within the bounds of the camp. Much of my time was spent in seeking for game of various kinds among the stupendous cliffs around, a quest in which I was not always unsuccessful. On other occasions, I mounted my newly-purchased horse, and rode about to different points which promised to afford the most extensive prospect of the glorious scenery of the Lower Pyrenees; nor was the camp before St Sebastian's neglected; to it I paid repeated visits, and perhaps I cannot do better, in this stage of my narrative, than give some account of the state in which I found it. In a former Chapter I stated that St Sebastian's occupies a neck of land which juts into the sea, being washed on two sides by the waters of the Bay of Biscay, and on a third by the River Gurumea. This stream, though insufficient in respect of width, cannot be forded, at least near the town, except at the time of low tide; it therefore adds not a little to the general strength of the place. But the strength of the place consists far more in the great regularity and solidity of its fortifications, than in its natural situation. Across the isthmus, from the river to the bay, is erected a chain of stupendous masonry, consisting of several bastions and towers, connected by a well-sheltered curtain, and covered by a ditch and glacis, whilst the castle, built upon an high hill, completely commands the whole, and seems to hold the town, and everything in it, entirely at its mercy. The scenery around St Sebastian's is, in the highest degree, interesting and fine. As has been already mentioned, the ground, begining to rise on all sides about a mile and a half from the glacis, is soon broken into hill and valley, mountain and ravine. Numerous orchards are, moreover, planted upon the lowest of these heights, with here and there a vineyard, a chateau, and a farm-house; whilst far off, in the back-ground, one sees the rugged tops of the Quatracrone, and the other gigantic mountains which overhang the Bidaossa, and divide Spain from France. The tents of the besiegers were placed upon the lower range of hills, about two miles and a half distant from the town. Of course, they were so pitched as that they should be, as far as possible, hidden from the enemy, and for this purpose the uneven nature of the country happily sufficed. They stood, for the most part, among the orchards just alluded to, and in the valleys and ravines with which the place abounded. Leading from them to the first parallel, were cut various covered ways, that is, roads sunk in the ground so far as that troops might march along without exposing themselves to the fire of the enemy; and the parallel itself was drawn almost upon the brow of the ridge. Here, or rather in the ruined Convent of St Bartholeme, was established the principal magazine of powder, shot, working-tools, and other necessaries for the siege, and here, as a matter of course, the reserve, or 'main body of the piquet-guard, was stationed. The first parallel extended some way beyond the town, on both sides, and was connected with the second, as that again was with the third, by other covered ways, cut in an oblique direction towards the enemy's works, but no sap had been attempted. The third parallel, therefore, completed the works of the besiegers, and it was carried within a few hundred yards of the foot of the rampart. In each of these batteries were built, as well as on the brows of all the surrounding heights, but as yet they were masked by slight screens of sand and turf, though the guns were placed once more in many of them, and the rest were rapidly filling. There is no species of duty in which a soldier is liable to be employed so galling, or so disagreeable, as a siege; not that it is deficient in causes of excitement, which, on the contrary, are in hourly operation; but it ties him so completely down to one spot, and, breaks in so repeatedly upon his hours of rest, and exposes him so constantly to danger, and that too at times and in places where no honour is to be gained, that we cannot greatly wonder at the feelings of absolute hatred which generally prevail, among the privates, at least of a besieging army, against the garrison which does its duty to its country, by holding out to the last extremity. On the present occasion, 1 found much of that tone of mind among the various brigades which lay before St Sebastian's. They could not forgive the French garrison, which had now kept them during six weeks at bay, and they burned with anxiety to wipe off the disgrace of a former repulse; there was, therefore, little mention made of quarter, whenever the approaching assault chanced to be alluded to. The governor of St Sebastian's was evidently a man of great energy of mind, and of very considerable military talent. Everything which could be done to retard the progress of the siege, he had attempted; the breach which had been effected previous to the first assault, was now almost entirely filled up, whilst many new works were erected, and what was not, perhaps, in strict accordance with the rules of modern warfare-they were erected by British prisoners. We could distinctly see these poor fellows labouring at their task in full regimentals, and the consequence was, that they were permitted to labour on, without a single gun being turned against them. Nor was this all that was done to annoy the assailantsnight after night, petty sorties were made, with no other apparent design than to disturb the repose, and to harass the spirits, of the besiegers; for the attacking party seldom attempted. to advance farther than the first pa rallel, and it was uniformly beaten back by the piquets and reserve. During the last ten days, the besieging army had been busily employed in bringing up ammunition, and in dragging into battery one of the most splendid trains of heavy ordnance which a British general has ever had at his command. On the evening of the 26th, these matters were completed; no fewer than sixty pieces of artillery, some of them sixty-four, and none of lighter metal than eighteenpounders, were mounted against the town, whilst twenty mortars of different calibre prepared to scatter death among its defenders, and bid fair to reduce the place itself to a heap of ruins. These arrangements being completed, it was deemed prudent, previous to the opening of the batteries, to deprive the enemy of a little redoubt which stood upon an island in the harbour, and in some degree enfiladed the trenches. For this service a detachment, consisting of an hundred men, a captain, and two subalterns, were allotted, who, filing from the camp soon after night-fall, embarked in the boats of the cruizers; here they were joined by a few seamen and marines, under the command of a naval officer, and having made good their landing under cover of darkness, they advanced briskly to the assault. The enemy were taken completely by surprise-only a few shots were fired on either side, and in the space of five minutes, the small fort, mounting four guns, with an officer and thirty men as its garrison, surrendered, or rather were taken possession of by the assail ants. So trifling, indeed, was the resistance offered by the French garrison, that it disturbed not the slumbers of the troops in camp. The night of the 26th, accordingly, passed by in quiet, but as soon as the morning of the 27th dawned, affairs assumed a very different appearance. Soon after daybreak, a single shell was thrown from the heights on the right of the town, as a signal for the batteries to open, and then a most tremendous cannonade began. The first salvo, indeed, was one of the finest things of the kind I ever witnessed. Without taking the trouble to remove the slight covering of sand and turf which masked the batteries, the artillerymen, lay ing their guns by such observations as small apertures left for the purpose enabled them to effect, fired upon the given signal, and thus caused the guns to clear a way for themselves in their future discharges, nor were these tardy in occurring. So rapid, indeed, were the gunners in their movements, and so unintermitting the fire which they kept up from morning till night, during the whole of the 27th, the 28th, the 29th, and 30th, that by sun-set on the latter day, not only was the old breach reduced to its former dilapidated condition, but a new, and a far more promising breach was effected. In the meantime, however, the enemy had not been remiss in their endeavours to silence the fire of the besiegers, and to dismount their guns. They had, indeed, exercised their artillery with so much good will, that most of the cannon found in the place, after its capture, were unserviceable; being melted at the touch-holes, or otherwise damaged from too frequent use. But they fought, on the present occasion, under every imaginable disadvantage; for, not only was our artillery much more than a match for theirs, but our advanced trenches were lined with troops, who kept up an incessant and deadly fire of mus ketry upon the embrasures. The consequence was, that the fire from the town became every hour more and more intermitted, till, long before mid-day, on the 28th, the garrison attempted no further resistance, than by the occasional discharge of a mortar from beneath the ramparts. I have said, that, by sun-set on the 29th, the outer breach was reduced to its former dilapidated state, and a new and a more promising one effected. It will be necessary to describe, with greater accuracy than I have yet done, the situation and actual state of these breaches. The point selected by Sir Thomas Graham as most exposed, and offering the best mark to his breaching artillery, was that side of the town which looked towards the river. Here there was no ditch, nor any glacis, the waters of the Gurumea flowing so close to the foot of the wall, as to render the one useless, and the other impracticable. The rampart itself was consequently bare to the fire of our batteries, and as it rose to a considerable height, perhaps twenty or thirty feet. |
